Dantalian no Shoka:Volume1 Chapter4
Special Chapter 1 - The Book of Dictators
Talisman of Despot
He was a serious student.
Although still young, he was grieving over the future of his country more earnestly than everyone else.
But the more he thought earnestly, the darker and hopeless appeared the future of his country to him.
The resources were sparce in his country and the daily life was hard to overcome.
The cities were crowded with adults that failed getting a job and the criminal rate was constantly growing.
Bordering countries were threatening his country with their military strength because of the land.
In the end he lost all hope and began to live a vapid, ephemeral life.
Then one day he came across a little girl.
She has a beautiful appearance.
Faint green hair resembling emerald.
White skin resembling marbles, almost translucent.
Countless frills and laces were stuffed into her deep crimson colored dress, similar to the color of blood. Out of the gaps between them, gauntlets as well as a breast plate could be seen.
The right eye of the girl was colored in the same emerald-green as her hair, while her left eye was covered by a metal eye patch shimmering in dark gray.
There was a big keyhole in the midst of her eye patch that resembled an old lock---
"It might be too late for this country, huh?" the man said with a tired voice to her.
The girl asked back, why he would think that.
"You see, the politicians are incompetent and the bureaucracy is on the ladder way, corroded by corruption and bribery. The people are not thinking of anything else than to stand in the way of each other. I'm telling you, there's no hope for this country, as long those guys are running it!"
He sorrowfully answered with those words.
How idiotic!, the girl said.
"If you say the current rulers are incompetent, then just try running the country yourself."
The man was taken aback and asked her:
"Are you telling me to become a politician?"
"Right! You're thinking more earnestly about the future of this country than anyone else, aren't you? Then you're supposed to rule it."
After a short consideration, he shook his head weakly.
"That won't work. Even if I'd try to improve the politics on my own, another politician would get in my way. I'm sure."
How idiotic!, the girl laughed.
"Then just become the most powerful politician throughout the country! After that, just capture and kill anyone hostile to you."
The man was taken aback and asked:
"Are you telling me to become a dictator?"
"Right! All other politicians are incompetent and corrupted, aren't they? Then you're supposed to rule this country on your own."
After a short consideration, he shook his head weakly.
"That won't work. Even if I'd try to rule this country on my own, another politician would assassinate me. I'm sure."
The girl, however, showed a brilliant smile.
"Oh no, it will work. It will. You were chosen by this phantom book after all."
She presented to him a book.
It was an old book written in the language of a country that was destroyed ages ago.
The man accepted the book and looked at it with a wondering face.
The girl explained to him:
"It's a book made for dictators. As long you're conforming to what's written in it, nobody will be able to injure you."
"I see. That sure is splendid."
He believed in what she had said.
And then those two went their own ways.
A few years later, a young politician appeared in this country.
He was a politician that was thinking more earnestly about the future of his country than anyone else.
In order to gain resources, he invaded other countries and gave wealth to the people.
He made the jobless adults join the army and punished all criminals without exception with the death penalty.
Before other countries could threaten his country, he started a war against them.
His politics was supported by the citizens with wild enthusiasm. The citizens that weren't supporting his politics were captured without mercy and then sent to prison.
He was praised by his comrades in the government. The politicians that didn't praise him were captured without mercy and then sent into exile to a foreign country.
And so he had become an imposing dictator.
But for some reason he was holding a book in his hands all the time.
There were many enemies to the dictator.
Politicians that were bereft their social status by him. The relatives of the nobles that were executed by him. The people that lost their families or friends during the wars he started. And not to forget the citizens of the other countries, that were despising his country---
The ones hostile to him became rebels and tried to take his life in various ways.
They tried to mix poison into his food or planned a bomb attack on him. Sometimes they acted as ally for a while just to assassinate him using a blade, bow or gun. There even were some people that tried to form a rebel army or ones that instructed a famous spell caster to curse him.
However, every attempt proved to be a failure.
No matter how skilled the assassin, the dictator wasn't even wounded.
His enemies were captured one after the other and then either sent into exile to a foreign country or publicly executed on a plaza. The number of rebels opposing him was on a constant decline.
Again some years passed, until the dictator finally was able to capture the last rebel.
He decided for a public execution of the rebel as warning to the citizens.
And so he announced to all the people gathered at the wide plaza.
That this would be the last rebel and no one would ever oppose him anymore.
"And that's why,
I'm no longer a dictator, but the true king of this country." he continued.
Moments later, a guard stationed at the plaza suddenly shot him with a gun.
The guard wasn't a citizen of his land, but an assassin from a foreign country that mixed up with the crowd.
As one could think, the shot man was holding an old book.
But the book didn't protect him, who stopped being a dictator, anymore.
The man who once was a dictator was shot by an assassin and died.
The people that heard this message told each other:
"This incompetent politician finally bit the dust. Now this country is alright."
A little girl wearing a dress colored in deep crimson laughed amused on hearing this.
How idiotic!, the girl laughed.
At last she got going and disappeared in the crowd of people who all smiled full of hope.
